


Always a (Second) Chance

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-18
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/186814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam and Jason discuss the power at two very different points in their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always a (Second) Chance

"Jason?" the voice at the end of the line asked hesitantly.

"Adam!" Jason said in surprise. He hadn't heard from Adam, or any of the other Rangers, since his experience with Divatox. "What's up?"

The line was silent for a moment, and for a second, he wondered if Adam had hung up on him. Finally, Adam spoke again. "Do you think you could meet with me, later today?"

"Sure thing!" Jason said. He didn't really have any other plans, and it would be nice to see Adam again. Something made him hesitate. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You sound exhausted."

"Yeah," Adam said. "I'll tell you all about it when I get there."

When Adam arrived at Jason's house, it didn't take Jason very long to figure out what was wrong - Adam was suffering from some sort of exhaustion. If Jason didn't know better, he'd swear that it was power related. But that wasn't possible - Adam had given up the powers nearly a year before.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Adam winced. "I used my morpher," he said apologetically, and Jason had the feeling that he'd already had this conversation a few times before.

"But!" Jason started, until he noticed that Adam was shaking slightly. "Come in and sit down," he said instead, preparing to catch Adam in case he fell. Once they'd gotten Adam settled he listened as Adam told him about what had happened with Carlos, about using the broken morpher, and about the exhaustion and weakness that had followed.

"So why come talk to me?" Jason asked, and a look of shame and embarrassment crossed Adam's face.

"Well, you went through something similar?" Adam asked hesitantly. "With the Gold Ranger Powers. Zordon said that they were killing you, and then you vanished on us for a while."

Jason closed his eyes, remembering. "Yeah," he said. "I wasn't doing well for a while at all."

"But you are now."

Jason nodded, opening his eyes. "The exhaustion took a while to get over, but... the worst part was knowing that my powers, which were such a part of _me_ had done that. That my powers had nearly killed me." He shrugged. "Even if I hadn't had to give them up, that might have been what convinced me that it was time to move on."

He saw the pain in Adam's eyes, and winced. Nobody should have to be hurting like that, especially not one of his friends.

*

Jason swore as the veteran team of Rangers appeared on the TV. He didn't know who half of them were, and honestly, he didn't even care, and if Kimberly hadn't just called him in a panic asking if it was Zack or Adam fighting in San Angeles, he wouldn't have even noticed.

Well, the buzz that one of the _original_ Rangers was back fighting would probably have reached him eventually. Still, it was Adam there, and Jason couldn't get the sight of a drained and dying Adam out of his head. After what had happened last time with the morpher - how could Adam have picked up that morpher again? Hadn't he learned anything?

A horrible thought crossed Jason's mind, and he wondered if this had something to do with the events of five years ago, when nearly all the Reds had come back. Or because of Tommy, wearing Adam's color now.

Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed Adam's number.

"Jase!" Adam said. "I figured you would call at some point. I'm _fine_."

"You. Morpher," Jason ground out.

Adam laughed. "Yeah, look, can you get to San Angeles? I'll tell you all about it." He rattled off an address quickly, and then an alarm went off in the background. "Gotta go, I'll see you when you get here." The phone went dead, and Jason did the only thing he could; he hopped into the car and headed to San Angeles.

The place that Adam had sent him to was a freaking mansion. If this was standard for the Rangers these days, Jason was pretty impressed.

"Jason!" He heard his name as soon as the car pulled up, and saw Adam followed by four people in color coordinated outfits. Nice to know some things hadn't changed.

"Wow," the one in yellow said. "The first Red Ranger. That's pretty awesome."

"Thanks, kid," Jason said, and Adam put a hand on the yellow girl's arm, and Jason grinned as he saw the telltale signs of temper. Nice to know some things really hadn't changed. He turned to Adam. "So, are you going to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"

"The Sentinel Knight repaired my morpher," Adam said as he gestured for Jason to follow him. "Really, I'm fine morphing."

"That's what you thought last time," Jason pointed out. "But..."

"But I came back anyway," Adam interrupted. "And yeah, I'm going to lose this again soon, probably. But I needed this last chance - to do it right. You had that Red Ranger only thing, and Tommy had his team, and I needed this. This one last mission, the chance to go out as well, a hero. And not have the last thing I remember about the powers being that it nearly killed me." He smiled. "Don't worry, Kira already gave me the 'don't die' speech. Tommy called her up and dictated the whole thing. She thought it was hilarious."

Jason laughed as he pictured that in his head. "You're sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"I'm fine," Adam told him. He grinned. "But thanks for worrying. And now that you're here, want to help me traumatize the newbies?"

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Jason admitted as he followed him into the house.


End file.
